when i was a baby my godparent's dog use to lie next to me and i spent alot of time around dogs for the most part of my childhood but i still get allergic reactions. shouldn't i be immuned? does anyone know why this happens?

My experience is that if you are allergic, you don't get non-allergic by spending more time with the animal... That's what my cousin thought and she had to have her dog killed because both her sons are asthmatic and allergic to dogs...

When I was a kid, the official line was that exposure to pets can lead to the development of allergies. Now I have heard that having a pet when young can make it less likely that one will develop an allergy later. But that doesn't mean that everyone who has a pet will not develop allergies....it's just a gamble. I don't quite understand how this works. I was allergic to dogs when very young (though my parents never had one) and I'm still allergic.

I recently read (sorry, for the life of me I can't remember where it was that I read this... ) that a child's exposure to dogs and cats prior to their first year of life actually helps ward off allergic responses to them -- this "protective response" is supposed to end after the child's first year. The article stated that initial exposure after the child's first birthday can actually increase the liklihood of a child having an allergic response to these animals.

Some folks can acclimate to a specific pet. Some folks cannot. My husband hopes he can acclimate to our poodle (he's got a dog allergy and asthma). I cannot acclimate to things I'm allergic to--immunotherapy made my allergies worse. Living with a cat (I already knew I was allergic) contributed to my development of asthma.

Regardless, if my husbad can't acclimate to the dog, we would NEVER put the dog down because of it. That's horrible and cruel. Our poodle would go back to the breed specific rescue where we found him. They have clauses requiring us to surrender him back to them if we ever need to give the dog up. There are animal rescues and shelters everywhere. There's no need to kill an animal for convenience.

ygg

_________________~*~*~ That which does not kill me only gives me hives. ~*~*~

I was a veterinary technologist, we had a dog and cat, I was around horses while I was pregnant and my son was around them all in his first year of life. He tested positive to cat at 9 months, dog and horses at 14 months. Both pets went not because of the allergy ( he didn't seem to be reacting ) but because we were told they would exacerbate his (mild) asthma and make it worse when he was older. Two years later, his latest test says he's neg to cats and dogs - both he's exposed to at friend's houses. However, he still reacts (face blows up) when he's around SOME dogs. We're still trying to figure that one out. So I'd say we've had as much exposure to animals as possible, it didn't make a difference to him. Our daughter has NO problems - did it help her? Who knows.

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